Wallonia restaurants to offer leftovers box to diners

From September, diners at restaurants in Wallonia should be offered the chance to take home their leftovers, with the birth of the Rest-o-Pack.

The Rest-o-Pack, a recyclable and suitably sized container for leftover food, was officially launched by the Walloon Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Carlo Di Antonio, on Sunday. The box is one of 17 strategies in the Walloon government's Plan Regal to reduce food waste.

"The main challenge of this project is to change attitudes," said Di Antonio. "Too often, customers dare not ask to take the home the food they have not consumed. Restaurateurs, meanwhile, do not always think to offer."

Approximately 3.6 million tonnes of food are wasted in Belgium each year. Annually, households throw away between 14 to 23kg of food, totalling around €174.

The Rest-o-Pack is already in-use in 83 restaurants in Brussels, with 10,000 boxes being made available, according to a Test-Achats spokesperson.

Test-Achats, the consumer advocacy association, found that the original term “doggy bag” tended to stigmatise the act of saving leftovers, and therefore had a detrimental effect on the concept.

In addition to this recent launch, Di Antonio has announced the completion of an audit in the kitchens of 20 Walloon establishments. Also, an online survey will be made available to restaurant owners from August to September, in order for them to identify the sources of waste in the catering sector.

“We hope to identify a set of practices to proscribe or promote the reduction of food waste,” added Di Antonio.

The Wallonia Horeca Federation has praised the inauguration of Plan Regal, for they see the reduction of waste as an opportunity to reduce costs and improve profitability.